Hagsfiend

"At one time, as unimaginable as it may seem now, there was a bird that was both crow and owl..."

-Grank referring to hagsfiends, The First Collier page 10

Hagsfiends are the vyrrwolvesof the owl world. They are nasty, mean creatures who did terrible things while they were still alive. Hagsfiends live in Hagsmire, which is the owl hell, like the wolves' Dim World.

Contents

Description

Hagsfiends were a cross between a crow and an owl. Hagsfiends were twice as big as the largest speices of owl and had blue-black raggedy feathers. Despite this, their feathers lacked oil and therefore could not shed seawater which leads to their wings immediately icing up and plummeting to the ground. Their beaks and talons were extremely sharp, and their eye's were a bright yellow.

In the Guardians of Ga'Hoole

Before the Books

According to Grank, there was once just one type of song bird, one type of sea bird, and one bird of prey. After thousunds of years new species began to form. In this process, a different bird came into being. These birds were named "crowls". Although it is unknown how, these birds gained natmagen, or simply bad magic and became known as hagsfiends

The First Collier

In the First Collier, hagsfiends teamed up with Lord Arrin to help them become stronger as hagsfiends weakness is salt water. The hagsfiends joined Lord Arrin in the battle of which King H'rath, Hoole's father, was killed.

Meanwhile, a group of hagsfiends (whether they were Lord Arrin's or not is unknown) cast a spell called the Nacht Ga' on the Glauxian Sisters. The spell allowed the hagsfiends to gain control of the sisters' bodies. The spell was broken by Grank when he struck an ice splinter into the Glauxess' gizzard.

Later, the hagsfiends track Siv and Myrrthe to the Ice Cliff Palace in an attempt to steal the egg that held Hoole. Luckily, Grank got there before the battle and took the egg to an island in the Bitter Sea. Siv fooled the hagsfiends into thinking she had the egg by holding a lump of ice and snow in her talons. Unlike other owls, Siv is immune to the fyngrot which bewilders the hagsfiends and distracts the hagsfiends to Siv's advantge. Unfortunately, a hagsfiend cut part of Siv's wing of in the battle. Myrrthe then used VAT to get Siv out of there. Grank saw the battle when used his firesight at the island.

Myrrthe brought Siv to an iceberg so she could heal. After a steady diet of fish, Myrrthe insists to get Siv a lemming. While hunting, hagsfiends attack Myrrthe, cutting off her head and tearing her apart. Svenka, a polar bear who befriended Siv and Myrrthe, witnessed the murder. The hagsfiends used their fyngrot on Svenka, despite her size, she was rendered powerless from it.

Lord Arrin and his hagsfeinds found Siv on the iceberg. As if he had never attacked Siv or her late mate, H'rath the now haggish Lord approached Siv questioning her about the egg. Siv, of course, refused to give him any information. Angered, Lord Arrin left to later launch a hagsfiend group upon Siv. Siv, with the ice scmitar of H'rath, flew out to meet the hagsfiends she slashed through the fyngrot as if it was nothing, which amazed the hagsfiends. The arrival of Svenka alowed Siv to escape.

The Coming of Hoole

In the Coming of Hoole, hagsfiends are first seen in a cave on the H'rathghar glacier in a meeting with Lord Arrin. They were discussing Siv and her egg which they were sure that had hatched by now. Penryck, a hagsfiend also known as the "sky dragon", realised that since Siv left the iceberg, she must have done so alone. Being a mother she must yearn for her chick. They decided to send Ygryk, their best tracker and mate of Pleek, a Great Horned Owl. Ygryk, unlike other hagsfiends, has an urge to mother, however since Pleek was an owl, and she a hagsfiend, their union was chickless. Lord Arrin and Penryck knew this, so Lord Arrin suggested that Ygryk could become a nursemaid for the chick. Realising that she would want to possess the chick entirley, Penryck and Lord Arrin decide to send Ullryck, their best assassin to kill Ygryk after she leads them to the chick.

Later, Pleek and Ygryk set of in search of Siv. Using her half-hags, Ygryk eventually finds Siv and Hoole on an island in the middle of the Bitter Sea. Pleek and Ygryk attack the mother and son. Ygryk was able to corner Hoole, armed with ancient hagsfiend charms from Kreeth, a friend of her's, that could turn Hoole into a hagsfiend. She was only able to complete one spell when Theo, with battle claws and the Snow Rose attacked Ygryk and Pleek. Ygryk, upon hearing Grank yell in the language of half-hags went yeep and plummeted towards the sea. Pleek rushed to save her and supported her in flight until they reached the Ice Narrows on the way they ran into Ullryck.

In the Ice Narrows, Pleek and Ygryk stayed with Kreeth, who had some of the most powerful nachtmagen in the world. In the distance, they see Grank, Hoole, Theo, and Phineas leave the island in the middle of the Bitter Sea and head to the Beyond. Kreeth then tells them that she believes that with the young prince she could finish a charm that could make them immune to sea water.

Meanwhile, in the Beyond Dunleavy MacHeath decides to leave the Beyond and tell Lord Arrin that Hoole is in the Beyond. Upon hearing this news, Lord Arrin takes all his forces and flies to the Beyond. Siv, with the help of Svenka and? Svarr has learned of the attack and, along with Joss, her mate's orriginal forces and some perch warriors from grog trees also fly to the Beyond to defend the young prince.

In the climax, Lord Arrin's forces are defeated, Hoole retrieves the ember, but sadly Siv is killed by one of the hagsfiends.

Known Hagsfiends

Nyra

The Striga (also known as Orlando)

Other Dragon Court owls

Kreeth

Penryck

Ygryk

Ullryck

Other ancient hagsfiends

Abilities

Hagsfiends are able to use fyngrot, like vyrrwolves. They were masters of nachtmagen and could make any spell/charm they wanted.